The BBC has produced a video examining what has changed globally in the 100 days since the killing of George Floyd. How has the death of Floyd and other unarmed Black people at the hands of police officers changed you? Share on Twitter @TheBurtonWire.
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(Los Angeles, CA) – Tuesday, September 8, 2020, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced new representation and inclusion standards for Oscars® eligibility in the Best Picture category, as part of its Academy Aperture 2025 initiative. The standards are designed to encourage equitable representation on and off screen in order to better reflect the diversity of the movie-going audience. Academy governors DeVon Franklin and Jim Gianopulos headed a task force to develop the standards that were created from a template inspired by the British Film Institute (BFI) Diversity Standards used for certain funding eligibility in the UK and eligibility in some categories of the British Academy of Film and Television (BAFTA) Awards, but were adapted to serve the specific needs of the Academy. The Academy also consulted with the Producers Guild of America (PGA), as it presently does for Oscars eligibility.
“The aperture must widen to reflect our diverse global population in both the creation of motion pictures and in the audiences who connect with them. The Academy is committed to playing a vital role in helping make this a reality,” said Academy President David Rubin and Academy CEO Dawn Hudson. “We believe these inclusion standards will be a catalyst for long-lasting, essential change in our industry.”
For the 94th Oscars (2022) and 95th Oscars (2023), submitting a confidential Academy Inclusion Standards form will be required for Best Picture consideration; however meeting inclusion thresholds will not be required for eligibility in the Best Picture category until the 96th Oscars (2024).
For the 96th Oscars (2024), a film must meet TWO out of FOUR of the following standards to be deemed eligible:
STANDARD A: ON-SCREEN REPRESENTATION, THEMES AND NARRATIVES
To achieve Standard A, the film must meet ONE of the following criteria:
A1. Lead or significant supporting actors
At least one of the lead actors or significant supporting actors is from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group.
• Asian
• Hispanic/Latinx
• Black/African American
• Indigenous/Native American/Alaskan Native
• Middle Eastern/North African
• Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander
• Other underrepresented race or ethnicity
A2. General ensemble cast
At least 30% of all actors in secondary and more minor roles are from at least two of the following underrepresented groups:
• Women
• Racial or ethnic group
• LGBTQ+
• People with cognitive or physical disabilities, or who are deaf or hard of hearing
A3. Main storyline/subject matter
The main storyline(s), theme or narrative of the film is centered on an underrepresented group(s).
• Women
• Racial or ethnic group
• LGBTQ+
• People with cognitive or physical disabilities, or who are deaf or hard of hearing
STANDARD B: CREATIVE LEADERSHIP AND PROJECT TEAM
To achieve Standard B, the film must meet ONE of the criteria below:
B1. Creative leadership and department heads
At least two of the following creative leadership positions and department heads—Casting Director, Cinematographer, Composer, Costume Designer, Director, Editor, Hairstylist, Makeup Artist, Producer, Production Designer, Set Decorator, Sound, VFX Supervisor, Writer—are from the following underrepresented groups:
• Women
• Racial or ethnic group
• LGBTQ+
• People with cognitive or physical disabilities, or who are deaf or hard of hearing
At least one of those positions must belong to the following underrepresented racial or ethnic group:
• Asian
• Hispanic/Latinx
• Black/African American
• Indigenous/Native American/Alaskan Native
• Middle Eastern/North African
• Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander
• Other underrepresented race or ethnicity
B2. Other key roles
At least six other crew/team and technical positions (excluding Production Assistants) are from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group. These positions include but are not limited to First AD, Gaffer, Script Supervisor, etc.
B3. Overall crew composition
At least 30% of the film’s crew is from the following underrepresented groups:
• Women
• Racial or ethnic group
• LGBTQ+
• People with cognitive or physical disabilities, or who are deaf or hard of hearing
STANDARD C: INDUSTRY ACCESS AND OPPORTUNITIES
To achieve Standard C, the film must meet BOTH criteria below:
C1. Paid apprenticeship and internship opportunities
The film’s distribution or financing company has paid apprenticeships or internships that are from the following underrepresented groups and satisfy the criteria below:
• Women
• Racial or ethnic group
• LGBTQ+
• People with cognitive or physical disabilities, or who are deaf or hard of hearing
The major studios/distributors are required to have substantive, ongoing paid apprenticeships/internships inclusive of underrepresented groups (must also include racial or ethnic groups) in most of the following departments: production/development, physical production, post-production, music, VFX, acquisitions, business affairs, distribution, marketing and publicity.
The mini-major or independent studios/distributors must have a minimum of two apprentices/interns from the above underrepresented groups (at least one from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group) in at least one of the following departments: production/development, physical production, post-production, music, VFX, acquisitions, business affairs, distribution, marketing and publicity.
C2. Training opportunities and skills development (crew)
The film’s production, distribution and/or financing company offers training and/or work opportunities for below-the-line skill development to people from the following underrepresented groups:
• Women
• Racial or ethnic group
• LGBTQ+
• People with cognitive or physical disabilities, or who are deaf or hard of hearing
STANDARD D: AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT
To achieve Standard D, the film must meet the criterion below:
D1. Representation in marketing, publicity, and distribution
The studio and/or film company has multiple in-house senior executives from among the following underrepresented groups (must include individuals from underrepresented racial or ethnic groups) on their marketing, publicity, and/or distribution teams.
• Women
• Racial or ethnic group
• LGBTQ+
• People with cognitive or physical disabilities, or who are deaf or hard of hearing
All categories other than Best Picture will be held to their current eligibility requirements. Films in the specialty feature categories (Animated Feature Film, Documentary Feature, International Feature Film) submitted for Best Picture/General Entry consideration will be addressed separately.
Academy Aperture 2025 is the next phase of the Academy’s equity and inclusion initiative furthering the organization’s ongoing efforts to advance inclusion in the entertainment industry and increase representation within its membership and the greater film community.
Read more about Academy Aperture 2025 here. Follow The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences on Twitter @TheAcademy.
This post was curated by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow Nsenga on Twitter @Ntellectual.
Follow The Burton Wire on Twitter @TheBurtonWire.
Allison Jean is a mother still in mourning. You can see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice. The CEO of a utility company in St. Lucia, Mrs. Jean presents herself as a consummate professional, eloquently making the case for why it is important to do everything in her power to keep her son Botham Jean’s name alive. “I thought after the protests following his killing, there wouldn’t be any more—couldn’t be any more — but the situation in America seems to have gotten worse. There are so many killings, so many hashtags…” she says as her voice trails off.
Season two of Investigation Discovery’s, IMPACT OF MURDER series kicks off with a heart wrenching two-hour episode, “The Ballad of Botham Jean,” airing on Thursday, September 10 from 9-11 p.m. Jean was shot in 2018 inside his Dallas apartment by white, female, off-duty police officer Amber Guyger. Guyger claimed she shot Botham because she thought she had entered her own home, and he was a trespassing burglar. Like many controversial police killings of minorities, Botham’s murder sparked national outrage. Like many controversial police killings of minorities, the families are left to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives and to fight for justice for their loved one.
Jean is still bereaved, grieving the senseless murder of her son Botham Jean, at the reckless hands of then Dallas, TX police officer Amber Guyger, who shot and killed Botham, a 25-year-old accountant as he ate ice cream on his sofa, while watching football in his apartment where he paid rent. As many mothers whose sons are the unarmed victims of lethal violence at the hands of rogue police officers who have gotten off with light sentences or avoided charges and prison sentences all together, Allison Jean seems exhausted from the experience that will never end.
She doesn’t agree with Guyger being described as off-duty because, “She was still in uniform and killed Botham with her service revolver,” says Jean. “She was also treated as a police officer. She was even given a 72-hour cooling off period, but she was off-duty?” Jean is clearly tired of the double talk and corruption that is all too common in these kinds of cases. The mothers of murdered children are tired of having to revisit the pain over and over again yet committed to working through their never-ending grief to ensure their child’s senseless murder is not in vain.
September 6, 2020 marks the two-year anniversary of the murder of Botham and as the date nears, Jean becomes anxious and admits the days are difficult. In August, Guyger who received a 10-year sentence for murdering Botham, filed an appeal on the grounds she was sentenced under the wrong crime and was in fact defending herself. Jean is disappointed in Guyger’s appeal. “She still has not taken accountability for her actions. She didn’t appeal the sentence; she appealed the crime. The appeal shows she does not think that she did anything wrong. So, if she believes based on her appeal that she was acting in self-defense, it then turns it around as if it was my son who was the one, she was defending herself against,” she states plainly. “So, the appeal just brings back all the pain, the grief and the anger over what she did to us,” Jean adds. I am very, very disappointed that after she received mercy from my son Brandt, she would still want to turn around and do this.”
Allison Jean, who is still under the care of a therapist because of the trauma over what happened to Botham and her family, does not share her son Brandt’s forgiveness of Guyger. When asked if she still forgave Amber Guyger for killing Botham, Jean strongly stated, “I want to correct that misinformation. My son Brandt offered her his forgiveness and he specifically said he was speaking on his own behalf, not for the family. So, does that answer your question?”
Jean, who is still clearly in shock that something so horrible would happen to her son who did everything right, has channeled her grief into ensuring his name is remembered among the many killed by police. “There are so many names I fear that Botham’s name will not be remembered because there are so many names to call,” she laments. “It is really, really terrible. I watched the March on Washington and they forgot Botham’s name. They called George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Jacob Blake and now the man in Rochester, NY,” she adds. “I am thankful this documentary came about because I fear Botham’s name might be forgotten, but this will help reignite his name, who he was, what he stood for and how he died in everybody’s memory.”
Jean isn’t relying solely on Investigation Discovery to help keep Botham’s name and memory alive; she is also working diligently to ensure this tragedy doesn’t happen again to someone else’s son. On the second anniversary of Botham Jean’s murder, a press conference will be held for a proposed law called the “Botham Jean Law” which will make it a crime for a police officer to turn off body camera or dashboard cameras in order to conceal evidence,” she says. There is currently no law in Texas to fine or prosecute police officers for tampering with evidence by turning off evidence gathering devices. In late July, a grand jury failed to charge Mike Mata, president of the Dallas Police Association for turning off cameras in the vehicle where Guyger sat after killing Botham. It was also revealed during Guyger’s trial that text messages and phone calls made following the shooting between Guyger and police officers, one of whom was her boyfriend, were deleted. Jean believes not having a law like this is one of the reasons why Mata was not indicted.
She is also proud of the Botham Jean Foundation, which was started to honor his memory. Scholarships are given out in his name in Dallas and St. Lucia. A thousand book bags with school supplies were also given to children this year in Dallas and St. Lucia. There are also plans to rename the street on which Botham Jean was killed after him. “I thought they wanted to name just the part of Lamar Street where the apartment building sits after him. They want to name the entire six miles of Lamar street Botham Jean Boulevard and that makes me very happy,” she says with pride.
It is at this apartment building Botham Jean was doing what people do every day, relaxing in the comfort of his own home, when he was killed. That’s the part that is so disappointing to Jean who raised him right. “He died in just the same way that he prepared himself not to die,” Jean says repeatedly. They talked about the police and avoiding unnecessary interaction. Making sure everything was current including his license and registration. How he should dress and present himself. How to avoid high crime areas in the city. How to conduct oneself as a decent human being.
Botham was an educated, hardworking, churchgoing young man with dreams of one day becoming prime minister of St. Lucia. “We talked about it being time for him to get married and start a family. He wanted to become a partner at PWC. His entire life was in front of him,” she adds. Botham Jean will never experience any of those things due to the reckless hands with the steady aim of Amber Guyger. Despite all that her family has suffered, Jean does not believe that Black people should avoid moving to the United States despite the police violence against Blacks in the country. Through all of this, she still has hope that things will get better. She still has hope for the safety and happiness of her friends and family members living in the U.S. including her daughter and three grandsons. Another son is now enrolled at Botham’s alma mater. “Where else could one be safer than in one’s home?” she asks. “I don’t know what he could have done to safeguard himself against what happened,” she adds.
Despite the tragedy her family has suffered, they will not be defined or stopped by it. “I walk by faith and I am trusting that my family will be okay” she says when asked how she continues to put one foot in front of the other having experienced what she has over the last two years. When asked what she hopes viewers will get from this ID documentary, she says, “I would like for people to realize that police brutality is real. The color of our skin itself is a threat,” she states.
“I want the documentary to provide a greater awareness and sensitivity to Black lives so that the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ will not be thought of as a cliché but taken with deeper recognition for the importance of equality. We are all one – Black, Latino, White, Asian — and we should be treated as such.”
“The Ballad of Botham Jean,” airs Thursday, September 10, 9-11 p.m. EST on Investigation Discovery (ID). Check local listings for channel information.
Learn more about the Botham Jean Foundation here.
This article was written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow her on Twitter @Ntellectual.
Follow The Burton Wire on Twitter @TheBurtonWire.
Kartemquin film’s social justice documentary UNAPOLOGETIC is the directorial debut of Ashley O’Shay and producer Morgan Elise Johnson. The documentary chronicles Black women activists in Chicago leading the movement against police violence targeted towards Black residents.
The documentary, which premiered as the opening night film of the 9th Annual BlackStar Film Festival, focuses on the unrelenting work of Janaé Bonsu and Bella BAHHS–young, Black women organizers who take on the Chicago establishment seeking justice for Rekia Boyd and Laquan McDonald, two young Black people killed by Chicago police. UNAPOLOGETIC also explores their quest to elevate a progressive criminal justice platform and center leadership by Black women and femmes within the city.
Unapologetic Clip – Chicago Policing from Ashley O’Shay on Vimeo.
The film captures tensions between a police board led by Lori Lightfoot (now Chicago Mayor) and abolitionist organizers at Chicago Police Department Headquarters. O’Shay began making the film organically in 2015 while attending one such protest equipped with a camera-in-hand. “I never imagined that I was on the precipice of capturing what will likely be one of the biggest movements of all time,” she said. “What is so captivating to witness is the tapestry of this Black queer feminist movement that lies at the helm of fighting for all Black rights,” says the DP and Chicago-based documentarian.
O’Shay would eventually document two powerhouse activists — Bonsu and Bella BAHHS. Bonsu is a 24-year-old pursuing a Ph.D. in social work while rising in the ranks of Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100), a national youth activist organization working to create justice and freedom for all Black people. BAHHS is a 22-year old “rap-tivist” who combines her music with activism to support women, like herself, who have been affected by intergenerational incarceration.
Johnson concurs with O’Shay’s observations about the movement. “While the world witnesses this newly-infused Civil Rights Movement, I’ll argue that the blueprint can be mapped to Chicago,” she said. “This city represents a microcosm of what resistance looks like. And, the crusade is led by these young, Black feminist voices who are demanding justice for all,” says the independent filmmaker who got her started as an intern at Kartemquin films while attending Northwestern University.
Johnson is also co-creator of The Tribe (along with Tiffany Walden), a digital publication dedicated to reshaping the narrative of Black Chicago, which earned Morgan a spot on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Media Class of 2019 and Adweek’s Rising Brand Stars of Chicago.
These dynamic women have been working for years to bring marginalized voices to the forefront via media and to address social justice issues like police brutality and mass incarceration.
UNAPOLOGETIC peels back the curtain on 3 years in the lives of two young women who balance the weight of leading a mass movement with becoming scholars and further entering adulthood.
UNAPOLOGETIC is executive produced by Yvonne Welbon, Gordon Quinn and Jolene Pinder. Rubin Daniels, Jr. is editor, and music is composed by Sam Trump. Welbon is a recipient of an award from the prestigious William Greaves Documentary Fund.
To find out more about UNAPOLOGETIC and how to screen it for audiences, visit Kartemquin Films.
This post was curated and written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow her on Twitter @Ntellectual.
Follow The Burton Wire on Twitter @TheBurtonWire.
TRIGGER WARNING: EXTREME VIOLENCE AGAINST UNARMED, NAKED AFRICAN-AMERICAN MAN
A chilling police custody case that happened in March 2020 is surfacing today. Victoria Albert of CBS News is reporting Daniel Prude, 41, died seven days after an altercation with police in which the victim was naked, handcuffed, had a hood placed over his head and his face pressed into the ground for more than three minutes by members of the Rochester Police Department. According to the medical examiners autopsy report, the death has been classified as a homicide and the cause is asphyxiation.
Prude’s family lawyer Don Thompson and his family held a press conference today. His brother Joe stated, they called the police for help and informed them when they came to the door, “My brother is only a threat to himself, not you so don’t kill my damned brother. Not even fifteen minutes later they come back telling me my brother’s dead.” Watch below:
The family of Daniel Prude wants the officers arrested.
Mayor Lovely Warren, who is African American has asked for patience because the Attorney General’s office has to investigate and prosecute these types of cases. The mayor said, “The case is not within our control because the executive order outlines the case has to be handled by the attorney general’s office.” Brown also added, “I know that the Prude family is frustrated right now, but rest assured, we are going to make sure we do everything possible to ensure that the truth comes out and that justice is held here.”
Watch below:
Rochester police chief La’Ron Singletary, who is also African-American said, “This is not a cover-up,” and added the officers have not been suspended.
Protesters are calling for the mayor and police chief to resign.
This story is developing.
This breaking news post was written by Nsenga K. Burton, founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow her on Twitter @Ntellectual.
Follow The Burton Wire on Twitter @TheBurtonWire. </em
The world is reeling from the loss of iconic actor Chadwick Boseman, who died Friday, August 28, after losing a private battle to colon cancer. Boseman died at home surrounded by his family.
A statement released by his family said Boseman was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer in 2016 and the disease progressed to stage 4. Boseman endured countless surgeries and treatments as he continued to make films from Marshall (directed by Reginald Hudlin), Da 5 Bloods (directed by Spike Lee) and August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (directed by George C. Wolfe and produced by Denzel Washington).
Washington and Boseman were first introduced when Washington paid for Boseman and several other Howard University students to continue their theater studies by taking a theater course in Oxford.
The Howard University-educated thespian was the star of Marvel’s Black Panther franchise, bringing to life one of the most important and revered superheroes in American film history.
Directed by Ryan Coogler, Black Panther was the first superhero movie to be nominated for a best picture Oscar and one of the highest-grossing films of all time, bringing in over $1billion.
Black Panther became more than a movie, morphing into a celebration of Black culture, art, history, achievement and intellect in addition to highlighting the Black cultural presence and influence in comic book culture.
Boseman was no stranger to playing iconic characters, bursting onto the big screen in 2013’s 42 as baseball legend Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in major league baseball. Boseman went on to star as Soul legend James Brown in 2014’s Get On Up and Thurgood Marshall in Marshall in 2017. Boseman brought a quiet dignity and powerful presence to these characters, with performances reflective of the weight they hold in world culture.
Prior to breaking into film, Boseman lived in New York, teaching at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture while cutting his teeth on small roles on shows like Law & Order, Third Watch, ER and Lie to Me, eventually landing recurring roles on Lincoln Heights and Persons Unknown.
It was Boseman’s turn as Jackie Robinson that cemented his film star status and his performance as T’Challa in Marvel’s Black Panther, that catapulted him to superstardom. Black Panther grew beyond the big screen and became a cultural phenomenon. Boseman, who hails from Anderson South Carolina, gave moviegoers a king who was stoic, powerful and captivating as he led warriors with love, intellect and strategy as they fought to maintain control of their powerful, technologically superior nation, ripe for poaching by outsiders.
Much like the Gullah culture of his home state, Boseman was able to effortlessly blend African and American culture to help create a fantastical world on screen that was inspirational and recognizable. Boseman led an all-star cast including Angela Bassett, Michael B. Jordan, Danai Gurira, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Sterling Brown, Winston Duke and Academy award-winning actors Lupita Nyong’o and Forrest Whitaker, holding his own and fortifying his status as a Hollywood superstar.
Boseman, who also appeared as T’Challa/Black Panther in Avengers Infinity War and Avengers: End Game, starred in and produced the films 21 Bridges, Marshall and Message from the King, which he served as Executive Producer. At the time of his death, Boseman was in pre-production as producer on Yasuke, a film about the world’s first Black Samurai in which Boseman was slated to star.
In addition to acting and producing, Boseman was also an activist and philanthropist supporting social justice initiatives like Michelle Obama’s #WhenWeAllVote and celebrating fellow Bison Kamala Harris’ history making selection as the Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee for the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, which was his last Twitter post before his death.
In 2018, the wonderkind performer delivered a powerful commencement speech at Howard University encouraging students to rise above traumatic experiences and applauding their campus activism. Boseman, who was mentored by fellow Howard University alum Phylicia Rashad and helped financially by Denzel Washington as a student donated $100,000 to #Change4Change, which supports HBCUs in November 2019.
The private public figure spent time visiting children suffering from cancer at St. Jude’s Research Center. In April 2020, the actor donated $4.2 million worth of PPE equipment to hospitals serving Black communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The youngest of four, Boseman is survived by his parents Leroy and Carolyn Boseman, siblings Kevin, Dionne and Derrick and wife Taylor Simone Ledward. Boseman was 43.
This article was written by The Burton Wire founder & editor-in-chief Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D. for NNPA/Black Press USA, where it originally appeared.
Follow Nsenga on Twitter @Ntellectual.
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Celebrated filmmaker Ava DuVernay released her short film, “August 28: A Day in the Life of a People,” starring Lupita Nyong’o, Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Regina King, David Oyelowo, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, André Holland, Michael Ealy and Glynn Turman.
Written, produced and directed by DuVernay, “August 28” traverses a century of black progress, protest, passion and perseverance of African American people. The project gives historical perspective within the creative framework of one date that has had a profound effect on America including: the passing of The Slavery Abolition Act on August 28, 1833, the lynching of Emmett Till on August 28, 1955, the first radio airplay from Motown Records on August 28, 1961 with The Marvelettes “Please Mr Postman,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech during the massive March on Washington on August 28, 1963, Hurricane Katrina making its tragic landfall on August 28, 2005 and then-Senator Barack Obama’s acceptance of the Democratic nomination for the presidency on August 28, 2008. The film was lensed by cinematographer Malik Sayeed and edited by Oscar nominee Spencer Averick. Ten-time Grammy nominee Meshell Ndegeocello composed the score. Paul Garnes produced, with co-producers Tilane Jones and Tammy Garnes.
“August 28” will debut today as part of “OWN Spotlight: Culture Connection & August 28th, a special airing Friday, August 28 at 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. ET/PT on OWN and streams for free on the Watch OWN app and the OWN Facebook and Youtube pages beginning at 2 p.m. ET.
This special is part of OWN’s overall OWN YOUR VOTE initiative, a bipartisan registration and get-out-the-vote campaign partnering with national and local grassroots and voting rights organizations to provide tools and resources that will empower Black women to vote this November. Black women powerfully influence election outcomes, and OWN YOUR VOTE supports this group of voters to show up to the polls and help friends, family, and their community to do the same. Winfrey recently shared that OWN will grant November 3rd as a company holiday to ensure all employees have the time to vote and volunteer. “I challenge other companies to do the same because this might be the most important election of our lives,” Winfrey said in her social post.
“OWN Spotlight: Culture Connection & August 28th, Ava DuVernay & Rev. Sharpton” is produced by OWN. The executive producers are Oprah Winfrey and Tara Montgomery.
This post was curated by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow Nsenga on Twitter @Ntellectual. Follow The Burton Wire on Twitter @TheBurtonWire.
The blogosphere is teeming with news Dr. Jeanette Epps could become the first Black woman to join an International Space Station.
NASA has assigned astronaut Jeanette Epps to NASA’s Boeing Starliner-1 mission, the first operational crewed flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on a mission to the International Space Station.
Epps will join NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Josh Cassada for a six-month expedition planned for a launch in 2021 to the orbiting space laboratory. The flight will follow NASA certification after a successful uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 and Crew Flight Test with astronauts.
Epps was set to make history two years ago when slated to work as a crew member on a Russian space station. She was pulled from the assignment without explanation.
Jackie Wattles of CNN writes:
Day three of the 2020 Democratic National Convention did not disappoint. Senator Kamala Harris made history by accepting her formal nomination for Vice-President on the Democratic ticket, becoming the first Black woman and person of Asian descent on a major party’s national ticket.
Introduced by her sister Maya, stepdaughter and niece, Harris let viewers into her life as the child of an Indian woman and black man in Oakland, reminding detractors that she was born at Kaiser Hospital in Oakland. Harris shouted out her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, the nations first sorority for Black college women, the Divine Nine, Historically Black Colleges and Universities and her birthplace of Oakland, CA while delivering her thoughtful speech which detailed how she became the woman she is. Harris referenced her mother many times, whose “shoulders she stands on” in addition to the Black women activists and politicians who came before her like Fannie Lou Hamer, Dianne Nash and Shirley Chisholm to make her political run possible.
Harris turned her focus to ousting President Trump, stating, “I know a predator when I see one,” and reminding viewers “we’ve gotta do the work” to get rid of Trump if Democrats expect to win this next presidential election.
Prior to Harris’ speech, viewers heard from former U.S. Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hilary Clinton, Senator Elizabeth Warren, former Arizona representative Gabby Gifford, who suffered catastrophic injuries from being shot while in office, all of whom endorsed Harris and Biden and also drilled down on the need to have a plan to vote based on the voter suppression efforts at work including destruction of the U.S. Postal Service.
Former president Barack Obama also spoke about Harris’ tenacity and greatness while making the case for voting for Biden by pummeling President Trump. He stated, “For close to four years now, he’s [Trump] shown no interest in putting in the work; no interest in finding common ground; no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends; no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves.”
Harris also gave her support of Biden for president and talked about helping to bring his plan into fruition.
Tonight the history maker will introduce former Vice-President Joseph Biden, who will formally accept the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States.
Watch the Democratic National Convention live here or on any major network.
This post was written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire on Instagram or Twitter @TheBurtonWire. Follow Nsenga on Twitter @Ntellectual.
Writing for Courier Newsroom, The Burton Wire‘s founder & editor-in-chief Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D. discusses the importance of writing the work of Black Women Suffragists into the dominant narrative of Women’s Suffrage as we celebrate the centennial of passage of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. Check out an excerpt below:
EXCERPT
When Americans discuss the women’s suffrage movement in the United States, Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, Betsy Ross, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton are the names you often hear associated with the work to pass the 19th Amendment. On Aug. 18, 1920—exactly 100 years ago on Tuesday—the amendment was ratified by the final state needed, and women won the constitutional right to vote.
But it would be a full 45 years following passage of the 19th Amendment—when the 1965 Voting Rights Act was enacted—before Black women (and men) would be able to exercise their right to vote fully.
Due to the imposition of poll taxes and literacy tests in the Jim Crow South—not to mention the racial terror in the form of mob violence and mass murder experienced by Blacks attempting to vote in the South and throughout other pockets of the United States—Black women were often unable to participate in the electoral process. The passage of the 19th Amendment meant little for them.
Celebrated white women suffragists like Stanton and Ross and other high-profile leaders in the movement didn’t support the 14th and 15th amendments, which granted former slaves citizenship rights and gave Black men voting rights, respectively. So, unsurprisingly, helping Black women—many of whom were former slaves—gain the right to vote was not on these women’s agenda.
Thus, when people speak of the women’s suffrage movement, they speak of a middle to upper-class white women’s movement that disregarded Black women and left them disenfranchised following passage of the 19th Amendment.
No wonder the activism and struggle of Black women suffragists to obtain the right to vote are often left out of the dominant narrative.
The names of Black women suffragists like Mary Church Terrell, Harriet Forten Purvis, Anna Julia Cooper, Frances Ellen Watkins, and Mary Ann Shadd Cary are often excluded from the history books and dialogue of the women’s suffrage movements. Part of the reasoning for doing so was plain old white supremacy, but some of it was strategy. The presence of Black women made it difficult for Northern white women to collaborate with Southern white women, who refused to work in the same organizations as Black women.
When the 19th Amendment was ratified, more than a dozen states had already given women the right to vote, so millions of white women were already participating in elections. In those states, many Black women were still unable to vote because of the hurdles put in place by state legislatures targeting Black Americans in general. When Terrell, who helped found the National Association of Colored Women, appealed to white women suffragists for help, the response she and others received was that the disenfranchisement of Black women voters was a race problem, not a gender problem.
But Black women were organizing around the issue of voting rights long before their white counterparts: They worked closely with Black men to help them obtain that right through the 15th Amendment in 1870. They founded their own clubs and organizations to fight for the rights of Black women, including suffrage, and continued working well into the next century.
In 1913, for example, journalist, anti-lynching activist, and longtime women’s rights activist Ida B. Wells founded the Alpha Suffrage Club, the first suffrage organization for Black women in Chicago. Black women worked diligently for universal women’s suffrage just as they had worked for citizenship and for Black men to have the right to vote. They knew full well they would continue to be disenfranchised and subjugated by both groups, but had the vision to understand that universal equality would eventually mean Black women’s equality.
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